Interactive input systems that allow users to inject input (i.e., digital ink, mouse events etc.) into an application program using an active pointer (e.g., a pointer that emits light, sound or other signal), a passive pointer (e.g., a finger, cylinder or other suitable object) or other suitable input device such as for example, a mouse or trackball, are known. These interactive input systems include but are not limited to: touch systems comprising touch panels employing analog resistive or machine vision technology to register pointer input such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,448,263; 6,141,000; 6,337,681; 6,747,636; 6,803,906; 7,232,986; 7,236,162; and 7,274,356 assigned to SMART Technologies ULC of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, assignee of the subject application, the contents of which are incorporated by reference; touch systems comprising touch panels employing electromagnetic, capacitive, acoustic or other technologies to register pointer input; tablet personal computers (PCs); laptop PCs; personal digital assistants (PDAs); and other similar devices.
Multi-touch interactive input systems that receive and process input from multiple pointers using machine vision are also known. One such type of multi-touch interactive input system exploits the well-known optical phenomenon of frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR). According to the general principles of FTIR, the total internal reflection (TIR) of light traveling through an optical waveguide is frustrated when an object such as a pointer touches the waveguide surface, due to a change in the index of refraction of the waveguide, causing some light to escape from the touch point (“contact point”). In a multi-touch interactive input system, the machine vision system captures images including the point(s) of escaped light, and processes the images to identify the position of the pointers on the waveguide surface based on the point(s) of escaped light for use as input to application programs. One example of an FTIR multi-touch interactive input system is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0029691 to Han.
Multi-touch interactive input systems are well-suited to educational and collaborative applications, due particularly to their ability to receive and react to input from multiple users. Several educational applications have been developed for the SMART Table™ multi-touch interactive input system offered by SMART Technologies ULC of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the assignee of the present application.
Examples of the educational applications supported by the SMART Table™ platform are Paint, Multiple choice, Hot Spots, Basic Astronomy, Hungry Whale, Got Fish, Color Fun, Puzzle, Addition, Tilt Table, Touch Challenge, and Drum Fun. In general, these educational applications each allow multiple users to manipulate one or more displayed graphic objects in various ways to establish answers to questions that have been posed, or solutions to presented problems. For example, the Puzzle application is strongly analogous to a traditional jigsaw puzzle, in that users are asked to manipulate puzzle pieces, each embodied as a graphic object, so as to move the puzzle pieces to predefined locations on the touch screen. Depending upon the particular puzzle, it may be required to move each puzzle piece to a fixed location on the touch screen, or simply to a particular position in relation to the other puzzle pieces thereby to complete assembly of the puzzle. According to the particular puzzle being solved, it may be required to manipulate the puzzle pieces by rotating them and/or translating them. Once a puzzle piece has reached its predefined location, the puzzle application automatically provides an indication to the user. Similar to a traditional jigsaw puzzle, the Puzzle application considers the entire problem to have been solved when all puzzle pieces have been moved to their fixed or relative locations, at which point the user is automatically provided with an indication that the entire problem has been solved.
While known multi-touch applications are very useful for supporting education and collaboration, improvements to the scope of graphic object manipulation, and the method by which evaluation of the proposed solution is triggered, is desired. For example, in the Puzzle application described above, a user is typically able to randomly translate a puzzle piece on the display surface, such that if it accidentally coincides with its predefined location, the user is still provided with an indication. As would be understood, the ability to receive from the application a positive indication that the puzzle piece is in its correct location despite the user having merely guessed the solution, limits the educational value of the application.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel interactive input system and method of configuring a graphic object in an interactive input system.